1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for changing the posture of a soft and deformable green extruded body without providing a shock and external force to the body.
2. Related Art Statement
In the manufacture of the extrusion molded articles, for example, ceramic honeycomb bodies, a green extrusion molded body which is continuously horizontally extruded on a receiving table through the extruder is cut into the single bodies of a predetermined length by the cutting means, then each single body, hereinafter simply called a green extruded body, is dried by the dryer and then sintered in the furnace; of course, further various procedures may be involved in addition to the above described procedure.
The green extruded body, after the cutting procedure, has a posture of parallel through holes extending horizontally. In other words, the cut end surfaces of the green body are perpendicualr to a horizontal plane. In this posture, the green extruded body is not easily dried and is not dried uniformly in the dryer, and therefore the posture of the green extruded body should be changed so that the end faces of the honeycomb structure, namely, the cut surfaces, are in up and down directions so as to easily evaporate water contained in the honeycomb structure. In addition to this, the green extruded body also should be transferred onto the appropriate support board fitting with the characteristic feature of the dryer, such as the dielectric dryer, the ventilated dryer and the like, and the support board disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,929 is suitable for dielectric dryer, and another support board having holes is used for ventilating dryer.
In the conventional manner, the posture changing operation of the green extruded body is done manually because the green extruded body is soft and deformable. In practice, the operator holds up each cut green extruded body with his hands and places it onto the support board while changing the posture of the green extruded body so as not to provide a shock and imprudent pressure. In the honeycomb body, the through holes are arranged closely to each other and their partition walls are extremely thin, thus careful handling is required. Also, the green extruded body should be placed on the support board with the cut surface of the green extruded body and the surface of the support board being kept in parallel: if not, the green extruded body is deformed at the end portion thereof, so that final products are inferior.
It is clear from the above that the manual operation in the extrusion molding is not acceptable for the mass production because the yield and operation efficiency are poor.